Where Are We Running
by Iemeila
Summary: two best friends run away
1. Too Much

Okay I know I SAID that this was under the Outsiders category, but it's not really supposed to be like …based on the Outsiders. I just got the inspiration from it. Ok so I previously wrote like, the beginning but silly me I lost it somewhere in my house. So this draft is currently missing, the beginning where it explains Ben and Chase's problems, so let me fill you in. Ben's dad beats him; Chase's parents are drug dealers/addicts and usually come home followed by sirens. Oh and Chase has a girlfriend who doesn't give a flying fuck about him named Mackenzie, and Ben likes his teacher Miss Jones. Ben and Chase are challenged to fight Terry and his friend. Previously Chase and Ben have a conversation prior to the fight about how Ben wants to just, run away, and how shitty his life is. I'll try and find it soon it's REALLY good!! Enjoy the parts that I still have. Oh and Chase brought a gun to the fight, but Ben took it from him so Chase wouldn't use it. Where Are We Running?

The fight started. Chase went straight for Terry for hitting Ben. Ben fought of Terry's friend.  
"I think its time I showed you how powerful I can be Chase." Terry said, yanking Chase's head towards a deep pool of water close to Ben." Of course, I'll really just be showing Ben wont I!!" Terry dragged Chase by the head over to the water and pushed him completely underwater. Chase struggled. He heard a fun shot from under the water. _I'm going to die tonight!! _Chase thought_. Oh god, I'm going to die._ He heard a second gun shot and felt Terry loosen his grip. Chase shot up breathing heavily.

"What the fuck happened!!" He stared at Ben. Ben was looking at his hands. In one of them, was Chase's gun.

"I…killed him." Ben said quietly.

Chase looked down at his feet. Lying in the water was Terry, covered in blood. "Oh man." Chase ran his fingers through his hair." Oh man, oh man, oh man."

Ben dropped the gun. Chase stared at him." He was going to kill me wasn't he?" Ben nodded. " God...Shit! Where's his friend?!" Ben stepped out of the way. Lying there was his friend, also heavily drenched in blood.

"H-he was going to tell the p-police what happened." Ben stammered. "He saw me with ...with the gun you know, and well uh…god damn Chase he was really going to kill you." He sighed. "You shouldn't have brought that gun."

"Man if I had known you'd kill him, I wouldn't have. We should go give the cops a story, so you know, they don't think we did it. Don't take the gun."  
  


"Officer, we found them exactly like we said!!!" Ben shouted. "Look, we were supposed to fight them…you know, a fist fight. But when we got there, they were covered in blood!"

"There was a gun there too Ben. How come you didn't bring it in?" said the officer.

"Well you know, we didn't really think about that since there were two dead boys there!!" Ben yelled louder.

"Ben, calm down, he believes us." Chase said." Don't you?"

The officer nodded. "Chase your mom is coming to get you and Ben your Aunt Kelly is coming too. Wait here for them." He started to walk away, but turned back." Do you know anybody that could've don't this to them?"

Ben shook his head. "Cant you guys fingerprint the gun or something?"

"Yes, and we are, but I was just curious…" The officer stood there for a moment more, shook his head, and walked away.

When Chase was sure nobody was within distance that they could hear, he shouted in a whisper, "Dude, what were you thinking!!!?? Our fingerprints will be on there!"

"No they won't. I brought gloves to wear since it was so cold, and put them on before I took out the gun. When you were drowning."

"Man, I aint never seen you like this before. Usually I'm the one all hardened up, ready to throw a punch any minute." Chase lowered his voice even softer. "And I would have never thought you could kill somebody. Even Terry." Chase dropped his face in his hands.

"I didn't either Chase. But I got so damn scared when he dunked you." Ben looked at Chase. "You're the only reason I didn't swallow those pills last summer you know. Remember Chase?"

Chase remembered. Last summer Chase had called Ben to tell him that he was glad they were friends, but instead of getting the same back, he got something horrible.

"… _yeah well anyways, that's why I was calling."_

Chase remembered Ben had been sobbing.

"_Man, I was just about to swallow a bunch of pills. And now since you called, I k-know that I shouldn't, and I wont. Thanks buddy."_

Chase had never been so scared for Ben since they had met. _I guess that's how he felt tonight,_ Chase thought.

"You know, what's funny man?" Ben said.

"What?" Chase asked, snapping back to reality.

"I don't have an Aunt Kelly."

Ben waited in the police station 15 minutes after Chase had been picked up, when a girl entered. She was dressed in a low cut, see through tank top, and a mini skirt. She had way too much makeup on, and her mascara was running slowly down her red cheeks. She was in handcuffs.

"I DIDN'T WANT IT!!" she screamed. "THAT BASTARD!! I HATE HIM!! OH GOD I HOPE HE DIES!!! NOOO!!" the officer locked her in a jail cell. The girl collapsed on the floor, sobbing hysterically.

"What'd she do?" the officer who had spoken with Chase's mom asked.

"Nothing yet." said the other officer. "We couldn't control her and she was hysterical. And well, seeing as we don't know what she's capable of…"The officer looked at the girl, who was now pounding on the cell bars, screaming for help. He shook his head and his eyes wandered over to Ben.

"Who the hell are you?"

Ben stared at him. "This kid and his friend found two dead kids in the schoolyard, Bernie." said the officer.

Bernie continued to look at Ben. "Really…" He walked over to Ben. Whispering he said, "Do you think you can talk to this chick over here?"

Ben stared disbelievingly. "Me!?"

"Yeah." Bernie said. "I figure you've been through enough tonight to talk some sense into someone."

Bernie and the other officer walked down the hall and disappeared down a corridor. Ben stood up and watched the girl cry. He finally mustered up enough courage to say, "Hey…are you alright?"

She stopped crying and stared up at him. "What?"

"Well, I mean you don't look so hot." Seeing the girl look down at her shirt, raising an eyebrow he immediately said, "I mean you look alright…well more than alright…I MEAN not like _physi_─"

"I'm Jane." she said." And I know what you mean. No, I'm not alright."

"Oh well um…I'm Ben." he said shyly. They stared at each other. Jane stood up.

"Why are you here?" It was more like a statement than a question, labeling Ben as a child that should never be in a police station.

"You tell me first." Ben replied.

"Long story."

"And yet it seems you and I both have time on our hands." he said coolly.

She cocked an eyebrow. "How old are you?"

"Fourteen. You gonna tell me your story?"

Jane sighed. "I can't trust anyone anymore. I thought I could trust Mark. I thought he was my angel from heaven. Then he said he wanted to have sex." She looked scared. "Are you sure I should be telling you this?" Ben nodded. "I said no…that I wasn't ready."

"How old are you?" asked Ben.

"Sixteen. He asked me again and I noticed he seemed extremely angry when I again said no. Mark started asking weekly. Then daily. We had only been going out for two months." She sat down on the jail cell bench. "Last Monday he told me that if I didn't say yes soon Id… pay. I thought he was just kidding. But when I came over to his house this afternoon…he came to the door with a knife and told me to get inside and if I didn't do exactly what he said, it would be going into my throat. He brought me into his parent's room and picked out these clothes I'm wearing." Jane looked up at Ben. "He made me do horrible...horrible things. Just like they used to do to me." Jane was crying again, and Ben noticed that the keys to her jail cell were on the wall.

"What who did to you?" Ben asked trying hard not to get up and unlock her cell.

"My parents…and my aunt. And my brother." Ben saw that her tears were silent, and made him want to free her even more. "I just wanted one person in my life to trust…just one person."

Ben couldn't stand it anymore. He walked over to where the keys were. "This isn't right. You're in here for no reason."

"Don't Ben." Jane said softly. "I'm safe in here. I trust the police officers. And I'll eventually tell them what happened. Besides, I don't know what I could do to Mark if I got the chance…maybe kill him."

Ben put the keys back on the wall. Just then, a woman came bustling into the station.

"Alright kid, let's go." She sounded bored and looked thoroughly annoyed and drunk.

"Who are you?" Ben asked, puzzled.

"Nobody you need to know personally, but if the cops ask, you tell them I'm your Aunt Kelly." she said.

Bernie came into the office. "Are you responsible for this kid?"

"Yes I'm Kelly, his aunt."

Bernie turned to Ben. "Is she your aunt?" Ben nodded. "Alright, see you around Ben."

"Come on." Kelly walked outside. As Ben turned to leave he heard, "Hey Ben!"

He turned to Jane. "Don't let people push you around." she said chuckling. "You could end up like me."

"I won't Jane." He waved and walked outside towards the car, where Kelly was waiting.

"Get in." she said.

As the two drove back to Ben's house he thought about Jane._ All she wanted was for person not to push her around…someone to trust, and love her._

"Don't look like that. You should be glad I was boozing it up, with your dad tonight, 'cause otherwise nobody would've been there to get you. You little shit…" Kelly said a few more rude comments about him and fell silent.

Ben went back to his thoughts. _Terry should've known that someone with a family so fucked up could kill him. He probably had a fucked up family too, since he almost killed Chase._ They were almost to Ben's house; he could see the porch light shining down the street. _I've been pushed around too damn much. _Closer and closer, they neared his house. _I don't need anyone in life except Chase. No one but Chase. _His front door, he could see it, open in the porch light, his bike lying in the grass. _Do I really want to go back to that shithole?_ In a split second he decided what to do.

"YOU'RE SUCH A STUPID FUCK!!" he shouted at Kelly. She screeched to a stop.

"WHAT did you say" she yelled. But Ben wasn't listening anymore; he was running up the porch steps to his house, through the front door, up his stairs, slamming and locking his bedroom door. Quickly he pulled out his duffel bag and stuffed all his clothes, 2 blankets and all his money, which was about $300 he had saved from past poker games, into it. He unlocked his door and sprinted down the stairs hearing his father's yells behind him. Ben ran outside and hopped on his bike.

"FUCK YOU BOTH!!!" he screamed. He rode into the darkness towards Chase's house, not caring about anything except getting to Chase.

Chase lived 3 miles from Ben and he came home to a smokey, dark house. His mother walked in without saying a thing.

"MARY!! WHERE'S MY GUN!!!" his dad shouted, as Chase walked into his room. _Oh, shit._ Chase thought. Chase did the only thing he could think of. He locked the door, and put a chair to the handle.

"Holy shit!" he whispered. "The cop is going to find his fingerprints!! Oh god, oh god, oh god…" Chase heard a tap on his window. He spun around.

"Let me in!!!" Ben shrieked.

"Sssshhhh!" Chase whispered as he swiftly opened the window. "What am I gonna do Ben?! His gun is gone, and the cops are fingerprinting it and…" Chase paused. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm running away." Ben said climbing into Chase's room. "And I want you to go with me."

Chase gaped at him. "You serious?" Ben nodded. "Shit man, I dunno…"

"YOU DON'T KNOW!!?" Ben screamed.

"Sssh!" Chase whispered. "Do you want to get me killed? And man, this is a big fucking decision!" He paced around the room for a second, and sat down on his bed. He sighed.

"I know it's a big decision Chase, but it's not hard to decide." Ben said sitting down next to Chase. "I mean, do you really like your life here? Do you like how you're treated in this shithole? I MEAN GOD they treat you like crap Chase!" Ben sighed. "The point is, is that we could move somewhere new, and just…start over!!! Wouldn't that be nice Chase? To go to a place where nobody knows you, or what you've done?"

There was a long silence, where all that could be heard was Chase's dad rumbling through drawers and closets. Chase was lying flat faced on his bed. Ben was looking out the window. Ben started to get up, when he heard Chase say, "Hey Ben?"

Ben looked at him. He had turned his head to look at a picture of his parents. "Yeah?" Ben answered.

"Do you…do you think they'd miss me?" Chase asked.

Ben didn't want to say anything, though he knew the answer. "No." Ben said. And for the first time, in a long while, Ben saw tears in Chase's eyes.


	2. Leaving Colorado

Even 10 years later, Chase only remembered bits and pieces of the night they ran away. He remembered hopping the train to Denver, and flying to Washington, but there was only one time where everything that happened, came clearly. Ben and Chase were waiting for the plane to arrive. It was about 5am, and the plane was due at 7. They were sitting in the waiting dock.

"_Why did you finally decide to run away Ben?" Chase asked._

"_Because I thought…now don't laugh 'cause this might sound pretty gay…but I just thought about this one girl that was in the police station after you left. Everybody she trusted, treated her like crap…kind of like our families, you know? And I thought man, the only person I really need in life is Chase. Everybody else is just crap. I just got really sick of them, my parents, and your girlfriend. I was going crazy, man. I swear if that son of a bitch hit me one more time…I just couldn't take it anymore, Chase."_

Chase had thought he was going to cry all over again. They finally made it to Washington. Chase had brought over $5000 of cash he had stolen from his parents and some cigarettes, and their plane tickets had been cheap. They were in Olympia and the boys decided to catch the train to Seattle.

"I figured we could sit in the last train. The conductor said nobody sits back there, so it'll be good for us to talk privately in." Ben said

He was right. The last train was totally deserted, but everything still looked in good shape. _I wonder why nobody goes back here,_ Chase thought. _It's so nice._ They sat down and Ben pulled out two Wonka bars he had bought from the train station gift shop.

Unwrapping his chocolate bar, Chase asked, "So um, why are we going to Seattle?"

Ben looked at him suspiciously. "What'd you mean?"

"Well," Chase said. "I mean did you have a special reason that made you want to go there?"

"Nope." Ben said between mouthfuls. "I just thought it would be a nice place to go. Lots of sights to see, stuff like that."

"Oh." Chase said, not believing him at all. "So where are we going to live?"

"Well, you know, a section of this newspaper might help." Ben said sarcastically. "But then, we COULD just live in the sewer. I've heard it's quite nice there!"

"Ha-ha, very funny. Start looking."

Chase and Ben went through the newspaper and finally picked out 5 apartment complexes nearby.

Getting off the train, Ben said, "Let's hit West Avenue first." The apartments there were not really even apartments. They had one room only, and somehow two beds, a kitchen, a toilet, and a sofa all seemed to fit inside it.

"The sewer's looking pretty good right about now." Chase said. "Next please."

The next two apartments were no different; small and cramped. And the next complex was 3 miles away. The boys headed for the bus station.

"So, Chase are you sure that there isn't anything you want to tell me?" Ben asked tentatively.

"I dunno…should there be?"

Ben thought about this. "Nah. I was just wondering. You seemed kind of weirded out when we were looking through the newspaper. I just wanted to know if something was bothering you."

"No. This whole situation is weird though Ben. I never thought we'd get out of that town and if we did, I didn't expect it to be so early on." Chase said. "This is where we get off."

They climbed off the bus and over to the crosswalk. Pressing the crosswalk button Chase said, "There were so many things I hated in Colorado, not just my family." They crossed and opened the door to the complex. "Like Mackenzie Walters." He shuddered. "If I never see her again, I'll be the happiest man alive!" Ben laughed and approached the front desk.

"Hello!" he said. "We're here to see the apartment."

"How old are you!" the secretary exclaimed.

"Eighteen." he lied. "We both are."

"Right. ID please." She said.

Ben pulled out his and Chase's fake ID cards. "SEE."

The woman looked flabbergasted. "Well I…it's room 13B. Second floor."

"THANK you." Ben said as he suppressed a laugh. When they got to the stairs around the corner, he couldn't hold it in any longer. "Oh man did you see her face!" He laughed even harder imagining it in his head.

"Yeah. Hey, but where'd you get those IDs?" Chase asked laughing a little too.

Calming down Ben said, "I've had them forever."

"Mine too?" Chase asked. Ben nodded. "Wow." They walked up the stairs. A girl by the looks of it was coming down them, carrying a full hamper of laundry.

"Excuse me, don't wanna hit you with this." She said.

Ben and Chase moved out of the way. It didn't help much. The girl missed a stair and fell, her clothes flying.

"Don't worry, we'll help." Chase said. He grabbed some clothes and handed them to her. Their eyes met. "Wow." Chase said under his breath. She was beautiful. Her long brown hair curved around her face perfectly, and her eyes were blue and seemed to sparkle.

"Thanks." she said blushing. They stared at each other for a moment more, and then gathered more clothes.

"Well, no introductions here I see!" Ben said sarcastically. The girl giggled. "I'm Ben, and the clown down there is Chase."

"Ben has a problem." Chase said whispering so Ben could hear. "He can never remember that he's the clown." Ben smirked.

"I'm Shelly. I live upstairs in room 12B." she said. "Did you two just move in?"

Chase nodded. "We're room 13B."

"Oh! Well um… if you need anything come over to my room. I think we have a connecting door."

"Well then I'm sure we'll see you soon!" Ben said cheerfully.

"Definitely! Bye Ben." She turned to Chase and blushed. "Bye Chase."

"Uh…bye." He started to walk up the stairs but turned around and said, "Do you wanna come out for pizza with us tonight?"

"Sure!!" she said. Smiling broadly, she turned down the hall and disappeared.

The boys walked up to room 13B. It was huge. The kitchen led into the living room equipped with a TV, stereo, and two nice sofas. The apartment continued into another room with two beds and two dressers. The walls were a faint blue and there was lots of room for posters. And as Shelly had said, there was a locked door in their bedroom which Ben and Chase suspected was the connecting one.

"This is so great. Ben we are definitely moving in." Chase said flopping onto the bed near the window. "Ah, I could get used to this."

"Well now we have to don't we?" Ben said. "You've got the hots for Shelly!"

Chase threw a pillow at him. "Hey, I don't blame you man, she's pretty cute." Ben said laughing and throwing the pillow back. "I'm gonna go downstairs and tell that hag we're staying. Later." He walked out the door locking it behind him.

Chase sighed. _This place is great! Great apartment, great friend to share it with…a hot girl next door. Everything I could ever want! And no parents to not care about me anymore._ He turned on the TV and heard a door slam in Shelly's apartment. He got up and unlocked the connecting door. He knocked.

"Chase, Ben, you guys can come in!" she yelled.

He opened the door. Shelly was sitting on a stool next to her desk. "Hey." she said.

"Hey, laundry all done?" Chase asked. _How gay are you Chase, you're talking about her laundry_, he thought.

"Yup! So Chase, where are you guys from exactly?" she asked.

"Uh…Chicago. What about you?" he said, sitting on her bed.

"Florida. It's weird though…you guys don't look too old and most guys living here are in their twenties. I'm only eighteen so…I dunno, I always felt kind of in superior around everyone here." Shelly said.

"Oh…yeah. I would too." Chase heard his door open in his apartment.

"Ok Chase, it's settled. Now let's go out to pizza with the girl you've got the hots for!!!" Ben yelled through the apartment. He walked in. "Oh, am I interrupting?" he laughed.

Chase stood up. "No man, we were just talking." He blushed.

"Sure. So are we going or not?" Ben said. Chase and Shelly followed him out the door and onto the streets of Seattle.


End file.
